This feast celebrates the incomparable love of Christ. He offered himself for the expiation of our sins; he spread a banquet table for us at which we are able to eat the bread of companionship and share the blood of the new covenant. How shall we make a return to the Lord for all the good that we have received? The only appropriate response to God’s graciousness is thanksgiving (eucharistía). We have been chosen; we have been delivered; we have a witness in heaven; and now we have been given the bread of eternal life and the blood of salvation. What return can we give? A life of gratitude lived in the presence of God; a life of union with all those who eat the same bread and drink from the same cup; a life of faithful expectation, waiting for the coming of the reign of God in all its fullness.
Trinity Sunday celebrates the core Christian conviction that God is a communion of relational love. In today’s Gospel, Jesus commands his disciples to make disciples of all peoples and to baptize in the name of the Trinity. Jesus is named Emmanuel, “God with us” and with Jesus’ final assurance, “know that I am with you always”, we find ourselves gathered into the very life of God. Furthermore, St. Paul reminds us in today’s second reading that God is not a distant God, but rather a God whose Spirit draws us, as “joint heirs with Christ”, into God’s own life of love and relationship. Trinity Sunday is the day we set aside to celebrate the mystery of God and the nearness of God who invites us into the dynamic cycle of life and love, a cycle that reaches out beyond the human community and embraces the entire cosmos. As we make the sign of the cross, a symbolic action with a two millennia history, we might become more and more attentive to the wonder of the divine life that dwells in us and in whom we are privileged to dwell.
The word Pentecost comes from the Greek for fiftieth day. Pentecost Sunday ends the season of Easter and comes as a Sabbath day after seven weeks of seven days. In Christian tradition, Pentecost is celebrated as the arrival of the Spirit, promised by Jesus, that animated the disciples to proclaim His Gospel to all nations. In John’s Gospel, the Spirit is called ‘The Advocate’ or ‘The Paraclete,’ and the role of the Spirit is to teach and remind the disciples of Jesus’ words. These are functions that happen within a community where people gather to share stories, to ask questions, to try to find meaning in the events of their lives. Jesus promises that when Christians gather for this purpose they will not be alone. Jesus promises that he, and the God he calls ‘Father’, will make their home with us, and the Spirit will be there to guide and enlighten us.
Mother’s Day Prayer
Almighty God, you compare your love of all people with the love of a mother for her children. Look with kindness on our mothers, give them joy in all they do for us their children, and comfort them in moments of difficulty or sorrow. Listen to their prayers and bless them in all their endeavours. May they share everlasting happiness in your kingdom. We ask this grace and blessing through Christ our Lord. Amen.
This chapter of John’s Gospel comes at the conclusion of Jesus’ farewell discourse delivered to the disciples at the Last Supper. This entire chapter is a prayer by Jesus, commending himself to the Father and expressing his care and concern for his disciples. Several important themes appear in this prayer. First, Jesus’ prayer reaffirms the complete union between himself and the Father. We are reminded that Christ is the source of Christian unity and that it is through Christ that we are united with one another and with God Our Father. Reading this prayer of Jesus during the Easter Season, through the lens of his Resurrection, we know that the light of Christ has overcome the darkness of sin and death in our world. In the opening line of this prayer, we hear Jesus pray that his disciples will be kept in the name that he was given by God. We know that salvation is given to us in the name of Jesus, and that his name—“God saves”—announces his mission on our behalf.
The gospel reading reminds us that as baptised Christians we are not just intimately interlinked but that the source of our unity is the Risen Christ. As limbs and leaves and sap of the same vine, we simply cannot survive in isolation. The vine image is an image of life and growth, of colour and vibrancy. It holds the promise of a life-sustaining grape harvest that is ultimately transformed into wine, the biblical symbol for joy. The Johannine Jesus makes the claim: “I am the true vine/vineyard” and God is the “vine grower”. He goes further: “I am the vine/vineyard and you are the branches”. The potency of this image resides in the fact that a vine without branches is inconceivable. It draws us into the mystery of the mutual interchange of life between us and the risen Christ, into the mystery of God. It also invites us to acknowledge our interconnection with the whole of the Earth community, to nurture the wonderful biodiversity of our planet, and to accept the inevitability of “pruning” if we are to “bear fruit” and “become disciples”.
This Sunday is traditionally known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Two major themes emerge from the readings: an image of the one who saves; and the power of salvation itself. The one who saves is not a mighty warrior who comes in military array. In fact, he is the one who was rejected, who was hunted down, humiliated, tortured and hung naked on a tree, there to die in shame. The one who saves is the cornerstone of the building, holding it together, forming a firm foundation so that the structure will not collapse. The one who saves is a lowly shepherd, entrusted with sheep, not with the affairs of state. The one who saves is an unlikely saviour. God’s saving power flows from steadfast covenant love. It broke open the world in the death and resurrection of Jesus and it overflows as healing grace. The saving power in the name of Jesus, a name that itself means ‘saviour’ is for all people, even for those sheep who do not yet belong to this fold. Furthermore, it is for all time; God’s mercy endures forever. Through our baptism we can bring the saving grace of God to a world in desperate need of healing. We can do this in our families, in our local communities, in the workplace, in so many situations of our lives.
Jesus is the servant of the God of the early ancestors, the long awaited messiah, and the innocent sufferer portrayed in the prophetic tradition. He is the fulfilment of our deepest aspirations. When we gather around the table for the sacramental meal, we encounter the Risen Lord. There the sacred traditions of our religious heritage are opened for us and we are enabled to recognise him in the traditions and in the breaking of the bread. In order to encounter the Risen Lord in the breaking of the bread and in the breaking open of the word, we need docile hearts ready to embrace the deepest meaning of our religious heritage. We need hearts that have been purified in the love of God; hearts that have been totally transformed. The commandment of love requires nothing less. Having recognised the Risen Lord, we, like the people described in the first reading, must live reformed lives. Having recognised the Risen Lord, we, like the people addressed in the second reading, must be obedient to God’s commandment of love. Having recognised the Risen Lord, we, like the disciples portrayed in the gospel, must preach the good news of God’s forgiveness to all nations. Easter faith assures us that all of this is possible.
The themes for the second Sunday of Easter set the tone for the entire Easter season. They are all directed toward mystagogical instruction, primarily of those baptised during the Easter Vigil, but also of the whole Christian community. The readings for this season provide us an extended meditation on the resurrection and on our own incorporation into it through the mysteries of initiation. Most of us are like Thomas who looked for some tangible evidence of the resurrection. We do not find it any easier to live by faith than he did. However, when we do live by faith, we actually discover our capacity, as a Christian community, to reach out in care and support to others. Jesus extends his wounded hands to us as he did to Thomas, and the community is invited to touch his wounds as we touch the wounds of our world. Although the blessings that we derive from the resurrection are clearly gifts from God, they are nonetheless gifts that came at a cost.
John’s Easter story is closer to our real experience than many of the other Resurrection stories. Here we have no angels announcing ‘He is raised’; no Jesus present to change sadness into joy. Resurrection is more subtle in this Gospel. Mary and Peter miss the signs. They remain locked in grief still carrying the painful burden of Golgotha. It is the disciple named ‘beloved’ who first experiences resurrection in his openness to believe in God’s power to raise Jesus. Easter calls for faith. Those who know the loss and pain of death know too well the hard, long search to find signs of life. We don’t experience a sudden glorious moment of life returned. Like the anonymous disciple, we often stay some time within the tomb before finding grace to turn and enter into life. Such grace is found in simple signs of a love that does endure. Perhaps this is why ‘the beloved’ disciple first reaches Easter faith.